Beauty and the Beast
by Daily Dose Of HP Funny
Summary: Remus Lupin the 'beast' falls in love with the most popular girl in school, Nancy Wilkins the 'Beauty' with help along the way from his friends, James, Sirius, and Peter.
1. Chapter 1

Remus Lupin, eleven years old, sat staring out of the window, at the edge of the window of his empty compartment, watching the rain pour outside as the Hogwarts Express zoomed by the countryside. He started to think about school, and whether or not he would make any friends.

Remus absent-mindedly drew a wolf in the fog on the window. When he realized what he was doing, he quickly scribbled it out. He wished he could just scribble out the wolf in real life. The wolf. The monster. _Me,_ thought Remus.

Just then, three noisy boys slid the door to the compartment open, walked in, put their luggage on the rack, and sat down.

"You didn't just find this compartment, did you?" asked Remus, "I mean, the train left about two hours ago."

"Nah, the guys we were sitting with kicked us out when Petey here set off a couple of dung bombs," said a boy with dark, messy hair and glasses. "And not the kind you buy in the joke shop, if you know what I mean!" I could hardly suppress a grin as he elbowed the short, chubby boy in the arm, and the boy tried not to wince. "Anyway," said the boy, "my name's James; this is Sirius," James gestured to a boy with long black hair on his left, "And this is Peter," James said, looking at the chubby boy to his right who was still rubbing his arm.

_**3 years and 2 days later**_

"Remus! Remus, wake up!" Remus blinked his eyes open and jumped. Sirius' nose was about an inch from his.

"Merlin, Sirius! What the bl- whatdo you think you're doing?"

"You slept in! Breakfast will be over in ten minutes. I thought you might like some. James and Peter are waiting downstairs."

When they got downstairs, most of the breakfast was already gone. That was alright, though, because Remus was hardly hungry. He was never very hungry right after a transformation, and his last transformation was yesterday.

"So," said James as Remus and Sirius reached the Gryffindor table, "did you have a rough night with your furry little problem?"

"Do I _really_ need to answer that question?" replied Remus. He usually would have laughed, but last nights transformation left him a bit irritable. At least the transformation was on a Friday, so he was able to sleep in.

After eating three strips of slightly undercooked bacon and a goblet of pumpkin juice, Remus went outside with the others to get some fresh air. It was a sunny day, rare for September at Hogwarts. He spotted the Womping Willow and very nearly shuddered.

As he stepped out onto the grounds, he passed into Nancy Wilkins, a fellow fourth year Gryffindor whom almost every boy was after. That is, every boy _except_ Remus. Remus _never_ wanted to get into a relationship, never wanted to grow attached, to fall in love with anyone. He just couldn't risk it. He felt this way about James, Sirius, and Peter at first; never sure whether or not they should become close. But that all changed when they found out he was a werewolf in their second year. It's very hard for your friends to find out you're a werewolf and promise they wouldn't tell a soul and not have them become your closest friends.

"H-hi, Remus," said Nancy as the four of them walked by.

"Uh, hi," Remus replied.

When the four were a little farther out on the grounds, Sirius said, "Remus, Nancy Wilkins said 'hi' to you; that's huge!"

"He's right," said James, "She usually doesn't talk to anyone but her pack and the _boys that she's interested in!_ Why didn't you take that opportunity?"

"I dunno, I guess I'm just…not that interested." But that wasn't the truth at all. In fact, Remus thought she was very pretty. Last year he got partnered with her for a Potions project and found out that, even though she was very popular, she was also kind and had a great sense of humor.

_Merlin, that had to be the best project I've ever-no! I can't like her. A monster like me doesn't deserve someone like her._

"Remus! REMUS!" he emerged from his thoughts to find James snapping his fingers in Remus' face. "Remus, you zoned out! Got something-no, _someone _on your mind?" Remus realized he was staring at Nancy.

"No-um, I…er-let's go inside; it's getting chilly again."

As they were heading inside, Sirius was staring at Nancy and bumped into Severus Snape, a greasy fourth year Slytherin who James and Sirius took immense pleasure in teasing.

Sirius immediately pulled out his wand and shouted, "_Expelliarmus!_" Snape's wand, which was at the ready, flew from his grip and landed some fifteen feet away. Snape remained frozen, then suddenly charged for his wand. But he had only taken a couple of steps before Sirius put the Body Bind charm on him.

"I'll meet you guys upstairs," said Remus, not wanting to get involved. He went up to the common room, sat in one of arm chairs, and pulled out book.

In about twenty minutes, Nancy Wilkins and her pack came herding through the portrait hole. One of Nancy's friends nudged her and pointed over to Remus.

"Hi, Remus," said Nancy. "Er-how's your cat?"

"What? I don't own a-ah," Remus suddenly remembered the story of his savage cat that he was sticking to ever since people had overheard James talking about the 'furry little problem.' "Oh, yeah, uh not really making any progress with it."

"That's too bad. So anyways, none of my friends can make it to Hogsmeade,-" this was very hard to believe, "-so I was wondering maybe if I could come with you, James, Sirius, and…um, the other one…"

"Peter," Remus said. "And yeah, I don't see why no-"

"Oh, great! I'll meet you outside the gates after breakfast!"

_What have I gotten myself into? _thought Remus.

Sure enough, the next morning, as soon as the four friends got out of the gates, they saw Nancy waving them over, standing there alone (a very rare sight).

The whole way to the village, James and Sirius were fighting each other to get closer to Nancy. Remus had expected Nancy to try to corner him alone and take him Madam Puddifoot's or somewhere like that. But she didn't. In fact, she seemed enthused when Sirius suggested stopping by the joke shop. Unfortunately, they were only able to spend a few minutes there, because Peter knocked down a whole barrel of sugar quills; and the manager kicked all five out.

Next we all stopped at The Three Broomsticks and got Butterbeers, even though Sirius tried to get a Firewhiskey.

"Five Butterbeers, please," said Nancy.

"No, I don't think I'll be having any of that children's stuff," said Sirius. "Better make that _four_ Butterbeers and a Firewhiskey." Sirius winked at Nancy.

"Right," said the bartender, "five Butterbeers it is then." They each took a bottle and walked over to a table on the other side of the building. Peter was about to sit in the seat right next to Nancy, but James pulled the seat out causing Peter to fall on the floor. James sat in the seat and Peter sat next to James, rubbing his behind as he did so.

After draining the last drops from their bottles, they decided to head back to the castle because the wind was starting to pick up, making the air icy.

At the portrait hole, Nancy gave them all a wave and joined her group of friends that were entering the common room. Remus pulled out a book and pretended to read. But there were other things on his mind.

_Maybe I could ask her out just once and-No Remus, no, no, no!_

Oh, the complications of being a monster.


	2. Chapter 2

"Remus, get up! The presents, look at the presents!" Sirius had just tackled Remus, and James opened the curtains to reveal a bright Christmas morning.

The first package Remus opened was a knitted scarf from his mom. James and Sirius gave him a box of chocolate frogs, though it looked like Sirius just crammed his name on the tag because his name was also on Remus' present to James. Peter got him a Quidditch poster and Nancy gave him a self-correcting quill.

"So," said James, "what do you want to do today?"

"Well, I know what I'm doing tonight when the moon comes up," said Remus, almost shuddering at the thought of another transformation. One on _Christmas _for that matter.

These thoughts were immediately pushed from his mind when he saw Nancy already sitting at the table, surrounded by three girls. As it was every time he got near her, one of her friends nudged her and looked at Remus.

"Hi Remus!" said Nancy.

"Oh, h-hello, Nancy," said Remus as he was sitting down and grabbing some oatmeal. Being around Nancy now made it hard for Remus to think clearly. "So, thanks, you know, for the quill. That'll come in handy for a test or something…"

"Oh, no problem," said Nancy with a smile.

After breakfast, the four marauders went outside and sat under the cool shade of the beech tree.

When Sirius set down his school bag, Remus said, "There's no books in there, is there?"

"How did you guess," said Sirius, pulling out the bottle of Firewhiskey that James got him for Christmas (Merlin only knows how he got it). Sirius uncorked the bottle and took a great swig. James and Peter watched him as though expecting some great miracle to happen. All that did happen was coughing and spluttering from Sirius as he said, "_Water! Water!"_

Remus pointed his wand into Sirius' cupped hands and said, "_Aguamenti."_

"Thanks, Moony," said Sirius.

"I really wished you wouldn't call me that." Sirius and James had been calling Remus 'Moony' lately, because of the moon cycle. He didn't like it much because it reminded him of his horrible affliction.

When the four went inside, Remus decided to go take a nap so he could have _some_ sleep for the next 24 hours. He parted with the others at the portrait hole, climbed up to the boys' dormitories, and got into his bed.

No sooner had he closed his eyes than he saw the same vivid horrifying images he's seen in his dreams so many times: the slashing of claws, snapping fangs, a searing pain that coursed through his whole body, warm, sticky blood dripping down his arm…

Remus bolted upright with a start. He had been asleep for a little under an hour. He looked around to see no one else in the dormitory. He then spotted Marauders' Map carelessly left on James' bedside table. Remus picked it up, thankful that one of them had at least wiped it clean.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," muttered Remus. He scanned the map for his friends and finally found them leaving the Room of Requirement, slowly making their way to the common room.

Remus left and met the three half way there.

"What were you _doing_? Why were you in the Room of Requirements? You know you left the Map? Anyone could've found-Peter, is that a _rat tail?"_

James and Sirius chuckled. Peter said, "Uh-bathroom!" and ran off in the direction of the bathroom. He returned a few minutes later, tail-free.

"I'm not going to find out what that was about, am I?" asked Remus.

Sirius threw an arm around Remus and said, "All in good time, my good Moony!" "Didn't I tell you not call me that?"

"Yup!"

"But, you're not going to stop, are you?"

"Nope!"

"Oh, look we missed lunch!" said James, clearly changing the subject. "Let's go see what we can find in the kitchens, shall we?"

The four marched down the corridors, Remus a bit reluctantly, until they came across a large painting of a bowl of fruit. "May I do the honors," Sirius asked. He reached an arm up to an apple, but James shoved him away.

"It's the _pear_, you idiot!" James reached up and tickled the pear. It gave a giggle and the door opened. All the house elves were so intently gathered around something, bowing, that they did not hear the four come in.

"More tart, ma'am?" one was asking.

"No fanks," said voice from the center of the elves, clearly through a mouth full of food. As the elves began to notice them, they bowed and offered them some treacle tart. They each took a piece and the voice said, "Oh!" It was Nancy, a small pink creeping up her neck. "Hello, R-Remus. James, Sirius, Paul, was it?"

"It's Peter," muttered Remus. "Anyway, we…missed lunch."

"Oh, me too. Well, let's tuck in!"


End file.
